The Cage Where You Live
by PunkPinkPower
Summary: Becoming a ranger hasn't changed any of his opinions about the other rangers. They're still inexperienced and naïve, reckless and foolish, selfish and ignorant. But there is something, Cam realizes, that has changed between them now that he is a ranger, and he spends so much time trying to figure out exactly what it is that he misses when they actually become friends.


Notes: This request spoke to me on a deep, deep level. 3 Written for Mara for Power Ranger Day 2013.

There are certain expectations Cam has about the power when he receives it. He knows all about the power. He's studied it. He knows how it will affect him.

Giant insect episode aside, he thinks he adapts well. He expects the higher energy levels, the increased metabolism, the healing abilities commonly associated with a morpher. He expects the increased awareness and reflexes, and even some of the restlessness that comes along when he doesn't burn off enough of his power energy fighting.

There is one thing he doesn't expect though, and that's the new kind of respect that holding a morpher earns him from the other rangers.

It is respect, Cam thinks, and more than just the respect he used to get for his high intelligence. The rangers react to him differently now that he holds a morpher, and his knee-jerk reaction is annoyance. How rude, he thinks, for them to finally be treating him well now that he has a morpher.

Only… he finds it hard to stay annoyed about it, because it feels so nice to be treated like a member of the team. It doesn't quite make sense, and he isn't sure how to explain it, but it doesn't seem like a conscious decision by the other rangers. It seems more like a feeling of solidarity, and he likes it. Despite his feelings about the rangers he shares it with.

Becoming a ranger hasn't changed any of his opinions about the other rangers. They're still inexperienced and naïve, reckless and foolish, selfish and ignorant. But there is something, Cam realizes, that has changed between them now that he is a ranger, and he spends so much time trying to figure out exactly what it is that he misses when they actually become friends.

He realizes it one day when while they're all in Ninja Ops, pleasantly bantering after a battle. Tori is teasing Shane, and Hunter and Blake exchange a look before shooting the same one at Cam, like he's in on the joke. And it hits him.

He _likes_ these people. He enjoys their company. Jokes they make that would have grated on his nerves before the acquisition of his morpher make him laugh now. Sometimes, he even seeks them out for companionship without meaning to. They actually are his friends.

How did that happen? Cam wonders. He can't pinpoint any one moment. And then he wonders- could it be the power? Could his friendship with the rangers be the power trying to make them into more of a team?

After all, it does a lot of strange things to its holder. And strictly speaking, he wouldn't put it past the power to try to bond the rangers together so they'll fight better. They stand a better chance as a team, and the power would know that. Is that why the rangers have suddenly started including him? Is that why they've been so nice?

"I do not know of any existing mythology or research which would suggest that the power can manipulate personalities, Cameron," his father tells him when he brings up the question late one night. "It is more likely that your exposure to the rangers and your shared task has simply brought you closer together."

Cam frowns. "Maybe," he says, and hesitates, "But dad, I don't exactly make friends easily. And there was a change in our relationship after I got the power."

"Do you not think that change could have been facilitated by the mission you share?" Kanoi asks, poking his stick in the air. "Or do you really dislike the other rangers so much."

Cam furrows his eyebrows. "I used to. I don't know anymore."

Sensei Kanoi seems to contemplate this. "I think you would do best to put this out of your mind. I know that you do not wish to see it, but I have always believed that you had far more in common with the other rangers than you would let be known. Perhaps the powers biggest benefit to you has been allowing you to let your guard down, so that they may see the kind person underneath that hardened exterior," Kanoi says, and he pokes Cam's arm with his stick teasingly.

Cam can't decide if that's a compliment or a veiling insult, so he lets it go and gets back to work.

But the thought continues to nag at him. What if their friendship is caused by the power? And what if, when this is all over (assuming they survive) everything changes back? What if the other rangers stop trying to be his friends when the power is gone? What if he no longer likes them?

It's a silly thing to worry about, losing friendships he didn't even want in the first place.

But that isn't true either, if Cam is honest. He's always wanted friends. He was a lonely child, and a lonely teenager, and a lonely adult. Not having friends was the state he had resigned himself to… but he'd never stopped wanting them.

So the closer he gets to the other rangers, the more he worries.

Blake and Hunter invite him and his father over for a Memorial Day barbeque. Tori starts teaching him how to surf. He goes to Shane's skate board competition and cheers for him. Dustin lends him a comic with a character he insists is just like Cam, that it's so close it's scary.

…He actually reads the comic.

God, he's in trouble.

He asks Tori one day when they sit on the beach after a surfing lesson, because she seems like the most intuitive of all the rangers, and probably the least likely to tease him.

"So, wait, you think we're all just friends because the power wants us to be?" Tori clarifies.

Cam shrugs. "Not you, Shane, and Dustin, obviously. You were friends before. And Hunter and Blake are brothers. I don't know, it was just a theory."

Tori stares at him a long moment. Then she looks back out at the ocean and says, "Cam, I know you're not very good with people, but even you have to see how paranoid blaming our whole friendship on the power seems. I think you need to have more faith in people."

Cam lets himself grin a little, but he doesn't push the subject. If Tori thinks he's being silly, well, she might be right.

Or he might be. He's a man of science, after all. The only way to know conclusively will be to finish the experiment.

The day comes, eventually, when it all draws to a close. Lothor destroys Ninja Ops and his morpher, and Cam is up on the self destructing ship trying to come up with a plan to escape. And Hunter and Blake still come for him, and the relief he feels at seeing them, at knowing that morpher or no they came to rescue him, is overwhelming.

That day goes by in a blur, overall. In the end, of course, Lothor is defeated, and all of the ranger's morpher's are drained of power. The ninja's are released, the world is saved, and Cam and his friends are no longer Power Rangers. It's a pretty spectacular ending to their saga.

It's with some trepidation that Cam wanders down to Ninja Ops that night. He'd pretty much lost the others in the chaos of the day, and he'd gotten distracted with trying to help all of the ninja's get home safely. They aren't anywhere to be found now, and Cam's fears crop back up. Perhaps, without the power, their friendship will simply fade away. Perhaps tomorrow he'll go back to scowling at Dustin's terrible jokes, be unable to find his comics funny. Perhaps he'll never get to thank Hunter and Blake for rescuing him.

He imagines they'll go back to the X-Games tomorrow to celebrate, and he'll stay here, doing damage control. He'll be alone, again, and life will go back to the way it was before.

When Cam finally does press his hand to the DNA pad with some frustration, the door creaks and makes a pained noise as it opens for him. He's somewhat surprised, though, to see lanterns already lighting up the space inside Ninja Ops.

He stops in the doorway, and stares.

Most of the rubble and debris has been cleared to the walls, and the rangers are dispersed around the room, each working on different projects. Hunter and Shane are in the process of righting Cam's computer chair.

"Hey," Blake says, smiling, "There you are."

Cam hesitates. "What are you doing?" He asks them.

The others look over at him. Shane exchanges a quick look with Tori, who just sort of grins. Shane looks over at him. "Well, we've got a whole academy to rebuild. We just thought we'd get started with the most important part."

Cam looks around at the other rangers, _at his friends_, and he finds himself smiling. "Thank you."

Hunter walks over, wearing his stupid smirk, and clasps Cam on the shoulder. "Hey, what are friends for?"

Cam smirks back, knocks his hand off, and Hunter laughs. Tori chuckles a little too, and as Cam comes over to his wrecked computer desk, she links an arm through his.

Leaning in the doorway to the kitchen is his father, also grinning, and holding a small cake. "Look what survived the destruction of the refrigerator."

"Alright!" Dustin hoots, pumping his fist in the air, "Cake!"

"The real question is," Cam says, as the rangers gather round the celebratory cake, "Do we have any plates or forks left?"

Dustin and Shane looks at each other mischievously before both lifting their hands and wiggling their fingers at him.

Cam holds up a finger. "No," he says firmly, trying not to smile, "We are not animals."

Beside him, Tori lets out a small puff of air, and before he catches her she's reaching out to swipe the cake frosting with her finger, and smearing it across Cam's face.

The other rangers hoot and holler, laughing, and dig into the cake with their fingers. Cam does his best impression of something who is incredibly annoyed, but eventually he gives in and takes a hunk of cake with his hand, too.

At some point, he gets Tori back for smearing the frosting on him, and then Blake and Tori get distracted trying to feed each other to cake, and a large portion ends up in Dustin's hair when Hunter tosses some at them. He then gets scolded for wasting cake, and Shane tries to play keep away.

But the important thing is that they're together, eating (and wearing) victory cake, in what's left of their home base. Cam is with his friends, and finally, he is certain that they are his friends.

The power may have brought them together, but Cam is finally certain that they'll stay together, in all the ways that matter. For the first time in his life Cam has friends, and out of all the things he'd expected the power to do for him, that had been the last.

It had certainly been the most important.


End file.
